Poinsettia Bowl: Another replay goes BYU's way

“Replaygate II” it will not be. There weren’t three people completely botching an obvious call.

But the play that became the turning point in BYU’s 23-6 Poinsettia Bowl victory over San Diego State on Thursday night was controversial nonetheless, and there was a replay involved.

The Aztecs forced a turnover deep in their own territory early in the fourth quarter, and on first down from the 3-yard line quarterback Adam Dingwell dropped back to pass in the end zone. BYU’s NFL-bound linebacker, Kyle Van Noy, charged from the left side, beat SDSU's usually reliable tackle, Nik Embernate, and slashed at Dingwell’s arm.

The ball came loose, and it was Van Noy who pounced on it for a touchdown that gave the Cougars their first lead of the game at 10-6.

The first fumble recovery for a TD in Poinsettia history produced a huge momentum shift, and 17 seconds later, after a botched snap by Dingwell gave BYU the ball back, the Cougars scored their only offensive touchdown.

After Van Noy’s takeaway was ruled a score, replays showed that Dingwell’s arm could have been judged to be moving forward on the pass attempt. When the replay was shown on the main scoreboard, the pro-Aztecs crowd at Qualcomm Stadium booed heartily.

When the call was upheld by the replay official, fans protested even louder.

The reaction was predictable, given the bitter and memorable “Replaygate” controversy of 2010, when BYU beat the Aztecs 24-21 when a clear fumble by the Cougars was not reversed by the replay official and BYU went on to score the winning touchdown.

All three replay staffers in Provo, Utah, were suspended for the botched call, and two of them were BYU alums.

On Thursday night, Aztecs head coach Rocky Long and his players acknowledged that the key fumble call could have gone either way, but the players took responsibility for the turnover.

“I think it was close enough that you could have called it either way,” Long said. “They decided to call it as a touchdown, so that’s what it is.”

Said Dingwell, who had another fumble and threw three interceptions: “I couldn’t tell (if it was a fumble). It was a bang-bang play. It was unfortunate. I still have to protect it. That can’t happen.”

Van Noy, who would later score a touchdown on an interception, also said the play happened so quickly that he couldn’t be sure what happened.

“From my angle, you can’t tell if his arm was going forward,” Van Noy said. “Replay never lies … they usually get it right most of the time.”

Likely feeling as if the session was venturing into “Replaygate” territory, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall interjected at the point, saying, “That’s probably a good enough answer right there.”

Van Noy flashed a smile. “I think I’ll stop,” he said.

Long reasoned that Dingwell's first fumble was not the key play in the game. He pointed to the penalty for blocking below the waist by SDSU lineman Everett Beed that negated Erik Pinkins' second-quarter interception return for a touchdown. The Aztecs didn’t get any points on the ensuing drive despite starting on BYU's 29.

“I believe if we would have scored a touchdown that time we would have been in the lead the rest of the night,” Long said.